The objective of this study is to define the correlates and predictors of survival and good health in later life. From more than 30 variables examined in multivariate analyses, blood pressure, obesity, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, serum glucose, uric acid, and triglyceride were inversely associated with staying healthy while forced vital capacity and birthplace in Japan were directly associated with health. Of these nine variables, blood pressure was the strongest discriminator between healthy status and all categories of disease while cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption were the next most important factors. This study suggests that the use of individuals who remain free of disease as a "standard" for health can facilitate the evaluation of risk factors for both total illness and a broad range of specific chronic diseases in a single population.